Too far
by PurpleHeroBanjo
Summary: What if a prank replicated one of your worst nightmares, would you distance yourself? Or try to forgive?
1. Gone too far?

It was a calm night on Beach City. The stars were illuminating the night sky, shimmering around the moon. At one temple, the sound echoing throughout it was mostly the same quietness, aside from a few crickets that made chirping noises randomly. One boy was exiting his room, wearing his usual pair of pajamas. He had short black hair and he was a bit heavyset in terms of weight. He was Steven Universe, a half magic boy who lived within the temple with three of his considered close friends, known as the Crystal Gems. Slowly, he was making his way through the night, mostly planning on trying to get something to help him sleep. For the past week or so he had not been able to fall fully asleep. He kept waking up randomly in the night. He was presuming that he hadn't been able to burn any energy out since he hadn't been allowed on any of the missions with the other gems, but even if he spent all day doing a tiring activity, he still rarely got a full night's sleep.

As Steven made his way to the living room, he saw the nearby kitchen which a small light could be seen confusing him he just assumed someone else was awake as well "maybe one of the gems has something to help me sleep…" he thought yawning before approaching though when he entered into the kitchen he saw the refrigerator was open which was where the light source was coming from he heard a coughing noise looking over his eyes widened and any grogginess he had immediately dissipated "Amethyst?!" Steven spoke, scared, seeing someone that was barely taller than him. She had a light purple ponytail with purple skin she had a gem on her chest that was vaguely noticeable

Amethyst was holding her throat somewhat bent over the counter. "A-are you okay?!" Steven requested, but only heard a faint wheezing sound. She pointed to the food and her throat. He didn't need to know much more to put that together. He had no idea what to do though, feeling near a panic attack himself. The boy quickly got behind her, doing the only thing he could think of right now, wrapping his arms around her and attempting to do the Heimlich maneuver. He pulled as hard as he could, but didn't get anything out, only hearing her cough and gasp more desperately. He tried it once again as hard as he could but to no seen avail, and that was when suddenly it went quiet. Amethyst just had her head tilted, her hair dangling over her face partially. Steven's eyes began to get watery. "P-PEARL! GARNET!" he screamed out loud, hoping his other housemates could hear and come down to help.

Steven suddenly started hearing a light snicker that began to erupt into a fit of laughter. "Oh, wow! I got you good," Amethyst's voice rung out. It felt great to be hearing her speak, but his minute suddenly began to catch up to it. She had pranked him. He let her go, seeing her fix her hair out of her eyes, still laughing lightly. He just stood there, tears still falling from his eyes. "Wh-what…?" he muttered. "Steven! What's going on?!" he heard another voice turning his head to see a very taller woman with black hair who had come rushing in. She had two gems, one in each palm of her hand, and a pair of sunglasses she wore often, even in the night. Beside her was another woman who had a gem on her forehead and being partially skinny. The two had come running when they heard his screams.

Amethyst got over the laughter, putting a hand on Steven's shoulder. "Sorry about that. It's nothing," she claimed. The prank that was meant for whoever woke up in the middle of the night, and even that had done its job of waking the others. "Of course it was…" the skinny woman named Pearl sighed, rubbing her head sorely, having felt jolted awake too fast for this early. Garnet stayed quiet alongside her before turning around and leaving the group to get back to her room so she could sleep, since there wasn't any threat and she presumed another argument would get out in the morning.

Steven pushed her hand away from his shoulder, still sobbing. "Steven, you can turn off the waterworks. It wasn't real. I just used some of Pearl's nasty leftovers for looks," she reminded him that it was just an illusion of the prank. "You mean the dinner I worked hard to cook for us all yesterday," Pearl growled in frustration, but she was unable to ignore Steven's crying, so she thought she could forget the waste of food for now. "A prank?!" he suddenly shouted, startling them both. Pearl had never seen him get upset with one of the short gem's jokes. Usually the two got along very well. Steven wiped the tears out of his eyes. "I thought you died in my hands!" he choked out through his light sobs.

"Steven, I didn't think it'd bother you that much…" Amethyst admitted. Even she was caught off guard from this outburst. If she had pulled the prank on Pearl, she would have just berated her. And if Garnet had caught her midway through this prank, it never would have worked. "I don't want my nightmares to be real! Seeing you just go limp and stop breathing…" he stopped midsentence, near tearing up again. The awkward silence from trying to think of a response was starting to take over. That was until Pearl stepped between them. "Look, Steven. You should just go back to bed. I'll handle Amethyst, okay?" she insisted that he just tried to go back to bed. He didn't need any encouragement to exit the room with that over. He left the two gems alone. Pearl just began to clean up the mess left over from the wasted food.

Amethyst just waited, expecting the taller gem to begin some long winded speech about what was wrong with that, but then there had been two full minutes of them not arguing which was strange to her. "Thanks for not throwing the food around as much. I'll see you tomorrow," Pearl told her goodnight. It was too late for her to stay up for longer to try and argue pointlessly. Amethyst was fully aware of the negative result of what she did this time.

**Authors note: Hope you enjoyed the fic, I have no clue whether to continue or not.**


	2. Scouting part 1

Around eleven next morning, Steven was sitting outside of his home, just looking at the ocean, lost in his thoughts. It was one of those days when the sky was clear and the water just sparkled beautifully, reflecting the sun's rays, with the birds flying overhead. He enjoyed relaxing on these days just to admire the ocean's beauty. "Steven," he heard, looking over and seeing Garnet approaching. He gave a light wave. "Hey, Garnet. Is something wrong?" he asked, doing his best to pretend last night didn't happen. Usually she didn't get involved with these issues unless she had to. "No, but I have a mission today. I'd like you to accompany me on it," Garnet explained that in a long time there was another mission that seemed appropriate to bring him on. "Oh… sure. What's the mission?" he asked curiously, getting excited already. "Just a scouting for an area, just to see if we can locate anything of interest," she described. It was nothing blood rushing, but he didn't mind. A mission was a mission.

Steven felt a light tickle on his neck. He giggled somewhat, and then he heard a purr, noticing a light purple furred cat crawling on his shoulder. He picked the cat off his shoulder, sighing. "Hey, Amethyst," he bluntly greeted, letting her down knowing the transformation powers of his friend. She changed back to her normal form. "Hey! Mind if I tag along with you two?" she immediately requested, having apparently been listening in on the two. She didn't even act like last night was any form of mean prank, either. Presuming he had gotten over it. "It is not an important mission that requires all gems. You and Pearl are going to make sure everything is safe here," Garnet ordered. Amethyst rolled her eyes. "Come on! It's not like a giant fiery monster will appear from the sea if we all go anywhere. Besides, it'll be a faster scouting mission if we all go, right? Just ask Steven," she argued, not wanting to be stuck in a boring day doing nothing, still thinking the boy would support her.

Steven just stayed quiet. Garnet was basically the leader. Any decision she made was usually a good one. "I… I think it should just stay us two," he said, not supporting her protests. "What? Oh come on… is this really over last night?" Amethyst joked, still finding it amazing how much he reacted to her prank. He just casted a glance away, while Garnet patted his head. "Let's go, Steven," she insisted, not wanting another upsetting confrontation to go on between the two as they both left to get prepared for their mission, leaving the purple gem a bit astonished. She was aware her little prank had upset him, but she didn't think her young friend would grow a grudge on her because of it.

After Steven had gathered all of their items, including a coat the red gem insisted on him bringing, he and Garnet found themselves in the teleporter which was a platform. He stood in front of the tall gem as he got lifted off the ground, and they both vanished in a bright light. "Be careful here, Steven. If you see anything dangerous, be calm and do not let it gain vision on you," she advised him what to do in case they ran into any hostile creatures, aware that keeping him calm was sometimes a problem for him. Steven nodded, understanding. "Don't worry, Garnet!" he reassured, thinking if it was just scouting, they would easily just roam a certain selection of the area and just simply leave.

When they reappeared, the two found themselves on a hillside that instantly felt cold to Steven. Garnet, however, didn't mind the harsh weather. It was heavily snowing here, the teenage boy realizing the snow was nearly up to his knees in length. The sky was not viewable through the thick clouds, either. "Wh-what are we trying to look for here?" he muttered through his shivering teeth. This didn't seem like a mission that Pearl would even permit him to go on. "We're scouting. It shouldn't be far from here," she answered, beginning to walk ahead. He just did his best to keep up, though being shorter than her, it made it hard to get through the snow, but the minutes did feel a lot longer with what felt like frostbite hitting him.

"You're having trouble sleeping, right?" Garnet questioned, trying to get his mind off the cold while each step of theirs got covered. Steven didn't try to hide the tired bags under his eyes much anymore, but it was nothing odd to him. "Yeah. Just rough nights," he reassured while they were arriving to the top of a hillside that just felt colder when they got to the tip of it. His eyes widened, seeing something in the near distance, a huge sized temple that was being draped in a blanket of snow as well. "You need more sleep. Otherwise you might begin hallucinating," Garnet warned him. Steven gulped, for he had not yet realized that his lack of sleeping could cause major sanity issues. He was just glad they hadn't been talking about Amethyst now, since he knew Garnet didn't want to be involved in the situation unless it required her.

Garnet picked Steven up. "Hang on," she said before jumping down the side of the hill, just beginning to slide down it. Steven didn't have much choice but to hold on tight, though he was glad to see the temple like area coming into view, faster than it would by them just walking. They finally came to a stop at the bottom of the hill. "Come on. We better get inside now," she insisted before the two began their way into the temple, Steven starting to have his doubts that this was a scouting mission anymore.


	3. Scouting part 2

Steven was relieved once they entered inside the temple, glad to have gotten out of the cold. But the corridor that welcomed them in the darkness wasn't much better. "Is this what we we're supposed to be scouting?" he asked. Garnet just nodded. This was indeed the place they intended to scout. "While we are here, you're going to learn a little about traps…" she added while motioning a hand, making him take lead and head in first. Steven nodded, knowing she will protect him in worst case scenarios. He began walking. The sound of their echoing footsteps was eerie in the darkness. He was worried that a monster would pop out and eat him in one bite, but he doubted something that big would fit in somewhere this small and be able to hide in the darkness that easily.

Steven took one step more and stopped when his foot sunk a bit. He heard a click noise, and the sound of a gush of air. Garnet held her gauntlet covered hand to his side as a dart suddenly landed, plinking off her thick weapon. "AH! Wh-what was that?!" he stuttered. "Dart trap. So whatever is in here is important enough that they intended for us to die from the beginning," she explained what a poisonous dart trap meant. Usually the level of threat from the first trap or two indicated how dangerous the temple in general was. Sometimes it could mean how protected any treasure might be. They continued forward, Steven making sure not to set off any more pressure darts by walking slowly along the side of the wall. The tall gem didn't seem worried though which reassured him a little.

They came to an odd looking door, which was covered with drawings depicting some person being bested by another warrior. "Huh. What is this?" he wondered aloud before running his hand along the drawing. Suddenly, he heard another creaking noise, followed up by a crash. Before Garnet could react, the floor beneath them had collapsed. She had grabbed the left over part of the floor, luckily. Steven, however, wasn't so lucky. "STEVEN!" she shouted, hearing his echoing scream. She felt unnerved, hearing his voice vanish so fast, but it felt like the echo was so slow. She knew she just had to find him immediately, thus changing it from a scouting mission to a rescue mission.

Steven groaned in pain. His vision was blurry as his eyes tried to adjust to his surroundings. Finally they revealed to him another room that was just a big circular dungeon with a few small statues of weird monsters that matched a few of the symbols on the wall paintings. "My head…! GARNET!" he screamed, only to hear his own voice echo that demoralized his hope fast. He just began to walk circles in the room to try and find a door of some form, but sadly, nothing was there. Just an eerie close up on the statues. Though on one of his steps, he heard another loud click noise. He immediately dove to the floor in a panic, seeing a spear rip out from the side of the wall which was meant to impale a person off guard. He just crawled out from under it, groaning, seeing the spear retract and the button reset.

Steven suddenly heard a growling noise. Turning around, he saw that one of the statues was now gone. "Oh no…" he muttered in fear, hearing the snarls echoing around the room. He heard a loud stomp in the center of the vaguely lit room, where now was a bear-like stone statue that had sharp claws and a weird stone helmet and wrist guards on. It let out a roar before dropping its claws at the floor and then charging at him. Steven screamed in fear, running out of the way, watching it crash onto another one of the statures, breaking it into pieces. He was thankful the other statues didn't seem to be lively at all.

Steven looked around, seeing another weird looking pressure plate on the floor as the weird statue bear began to approach him. He stomped on the switch, and more darts shot down from behind him. Steven ducked under them, watching as the darts hit the stone statue. But they barely chipped the torso of it. The bear statue dug its claw into the teenage boy's side, flinging him away. Steven's plump body flew into the wall. He groaned and looked around. The monster kept approaching, but Steven saw the same pressure plate he set off earlier. He immediately pressed it with his hand, and then the spear emerged from the wall and impaled the stone beast.

Steven stood up. The spear had impaled that stone bear a good chunk, but the beast wasn't down and out. It began to flail and bash on the iron beam pierced into its chest. Steven ran over to one of the other nearby statue monsters, groaning, putting his full effort into pushing it over, and then he watched it collapse on his opponent. The loud roaring tizzy finally came to a stop, and all he saw was a pile of rubble. Steven panted, holding his side in pain. The claw mark had certainly left a good few streaks along his side. A loud rumbling sound was now the noise filling the room. He could then see part of the wall raising as a doorway to another hallway. He just took in a deep breath and continued deeper, doubting that staying idle would be good at all. Not for him, nor for his health.


End file.
